“We’ll be making World Cup selections from this wider training group. With an Olympic medal-winning sevens team and a growing provincial tournament there’s a lot of talent out there and the number of women with the black jersey in their sights is on the rise. We want to make sure we take the strongest squad possible to the World Cup.”

The squad features all 2016 Black Ferns and includes Black Ferns Linda Itunu, Justine Lavea, Lesley Ketu and Stacey Waaka who are all returning from injury.

Black Ferns trials will take place in mid-May.

Details of an international home series in June will be announced in the coming weeks.